Sunday, June 22, 2008

Rap Treats #27: High Potent (Jay-Z circa 1986)


This one took me by surprise. This is a 16 year old Jay-Z making his first appearance on wax along side Jaz as the group High Potent. I always thought that "Hawaiian Sophie" and "The Originators" with Jaz were Hov's first rap appearances but I was wrong. This was released in 1986 on Get Live Records so it's super official. It's also super old school and kinda corny at times. I mean this record sounds like it's straight out of Krush Groove or Beat Street. It's a trip to think MC JZ put out his first record the same year as Eric B & Rakim, Boogie Down Productions, and Ice-T. Nobody can say that Jay didn't pay his dues. In fact he paid them for 10 years before he released Reasonable Doubt. Shouts to Cocaine Blunts, it's a hell of a blog.

High Potent